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Turkey is threatening to flood Europe with refugees as a €6 billion deal to halt the migrant flow appears to be on the brink of collapse.

Germany is readying contingency plans after the Turkish government dug in and refused to narrow the scope of its terrorism laws, which European leaders say are being used to repress academics and journalists.

The European Parliament is refusing to ratify the visa-liberalisation deal with Turkey, which was a major sweetener awarded to Ankara alongside aid and progress on accession talks, in exchange for it patrolling its coast line and accepting the deportation of refugees.

The flow across the Aegean has slowed to a few dozen people a day, but a collapse of the deal is may trigger a return to chaos in the middle of Britain’s EU referendum.

Migrants arriving on Lesbos in January

“The European Parliament will discuss the report that will open Europe visa-free for Turkish citizens. If the wrong decision is taken, we will send the refugees,” Burhan Kuzu, an adviser to President Erdogan, wrote on Twitter.

Volkan Bozkir, the Turkish EU affairs minister, told the BBC his hopes of a visa deal “are getting less and less”.

At a joint press conference he told Martin Schulz, the European Parliament president, that he should treat the visa benchmarks as a “political” rather than “mathematical” issue.

"You can interpret the expectations in many different ways. In politics, there should always be room for manoeuvre."

He warned: "We are trying to save the package. Visas is one part of it. Opening chapters is one. Sending three plus three billion euros is one.

"All the agreements we have achieved until now, built on confidence, goodwill, taking responsibilities, and also taking political risks, is facing a very dangerous moment."

Mr Schulz said: “We should not hide it. We have not yet a solution.”

Martin Schulz and Jean-Claude Juncker are engaged in a stand-off over the visa package

Angela Merkel’s government is now working on a “Plan B” in case the deal collapses, German reports said this week.

If Turkey re-opens its borders, asylum seekers will be confined on the holiday islands of Kos, Lesbos and Chios that lie just a few miles from the Turkish coast.

Ferry traffic to the Greek mainland would be suspended and failed asylum-seekers would be deported to their home countries directly from the islands, in a process that could take months or years, and would have a devastating impact on the tourism industry.

Angela Merkel with Erdogan

Relationships have worsened since Mr Erdogan ousted Ahmet Davutoglu, the mild-mannered prime minister who was the architect of the refugee deal.